Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

Barack Obama had an Aussie girlfriend.Snip>>

But there was only one woman he dated in New York and she was Australian Genevieve Cook.

Maraniss had access to Cook's diaries and they shed light on the character and personality of the young Obama.

"I'm left wondering if Barack's reserve, etc is not just the time in his life, but, after all, emotional scarring that will make it difficult for him to get involved even after he's sorted his life through with age and experience," Cook wrote after breaking up with Obama in 1985. "Hard to say, as obviously I was not the person that brought infatuation. (That lithe, bubbly, strong black lady is waiting somewhere!)"

The diaries, extracts of which appear in the new issue of Vanity Fair, also recall their first night together and what it was about Obama that made him so attractive.

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

Cremation gone wrong causes smelly smoke .SMELLY, black smoke billowed from a chimney at a Christchurch crematorium after the cremation of a 230kg body went wrong. Nearby business owner Rod Stuart says the black smoke from the Sydenham Crematorium caused an unpleasant stench on Wednesday.The crematorium's owner John Guthrey came out to apologise to a group of people who had gathered on the street to watch."He came out and told everyone, 'the body was too big, sorry'," Mr Stuart told The Press.Mr Guthrey said there was a "little bit of a glitch" and black smoke poured into the air for five minutes after the 230kg man was cremated.When Mr Guthrey realised something was wrong, he called the Auckland manufacturer for advice and the cremator was altered."We have got no excuses. We apologised to the people in the area and all I can say is it won't happen again," Mr Guthrey said.The cremated man's family will be told about the incident, he said.The manufacturers had told Mr Guthrey to cremate "very large bodies" first thing in the morning while the unit is still cold.The crematorium has been operating for about four months.. [link to www.news.com.au]

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

Tasmanian scientists help prove Mars had water

A UNIVERSITY of Tasmania scientist is part of an international team that says it has conclusive proof that water once flowed on the surface of Mars. Paulo de Souza is a co-author of a paper published in the prestigious journal Science that reports findings from the rover Opportunity's analysis of a huge crater on the planet.

Opportunity found the mineral gypsum, a key indicator of the presence of water in the past which had not been found by other Mars rovers.

"There are a large number of craters on Mars which are well preserved," Professor De Souza said.

"For geologists it is as if time has stopped. The crater rims have not been eroded by the elements as they have been on Earth.

"When you see the deposits you can understand which processes took place.

"Key minerals revealing wet processes could be everywhere on Mars but we don't know - it is too deep below that surface, that's why exploring craters is so attractive."

It took the rover seven years to navigate the 33 kilometres from its landing spot to the rim of the crater known as Endeavour.

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

Boy, 14, missing in Sydney during visit.A 14-YEAR-old boy has gone missing from Sydney's inner west during a visit from Tasmania. Lee Williams, in Sydney for the school holidays, was staying with relatives on Allen St, Leichhardt.He left the house at 10am (AEST) on Wednesday to meet up with a friend in the city to watch a movie, and had a mobile phone, wallet and cash with him.He was expected home about 4pm but failed to return and was reported missing to police on Thursday night.Lee is Asian in appearance, 165cm tall, slim build with an Asian cultural tattoo on his right forearm.He has black hair with a long fringe and was wearing a black hooded jacket and navy trousers with a white stripe. [link to www.news.com.au]

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

Missing teen boy found safe in Sydney

A 14-year-old Tasmanian boy has been found in Sydney's western suburbs three days after he went missing. Lee Williams was staying with relatives in the inner west suburb of Leichhardt during a school holiday visit.He left their house on Wednesday morning to watch a movie with a friend in the city and was reported missing the next day.But following a public appeal and police inquiries, Lee was found safe and well at a home at Old Toongabbie.He has since been reunited with his relatives.

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

Man 'scalped' as NT family feud reignites

A MAN has been scalped after a long-running feud in a remote Northern Territory town reignited. A police spokesman told AAP extra officers had been sent to Yuendumu, about 300km from Alice Springs, following a disturbance near the town's health clinic involving 50-70 people on Saturday morning.He said it was a "no-brainer" that the incident was linked to an ongoing feud between different family groups in the Aboriginal community.Two injured people had to be airlifted to Alice Springs for treatment, including a man who appeared to have been scalped, Superintendent Peter Gordon told the ABC.He said the skin had come away from the man's scalp.The man remains in Alice Springs Hospital in a stable condition."A large group of people had gathered near the clinic and were visibly upset," Supt Gordon said."When police tried to calm the situation they had rocks thrown at them."A spokesman said the additional police would stay put while they investigated the incident.In 2010, some residents fled amid violent riots sparked by the fatal stabbing of a Yuendumu man in Warlpiri Town camp, in Alice Springs. [link to www.news.com.au]

Tsunami generated by an earthquake in Cook Strait could sweep kilometres inland within three or four minutes, putting the lives of up to 170,000 Wellington residents at risk.

There would be no time for any warnings and people need to think now about how they can get to higher ground immediately after a strong quake, says Wellington Region Emergency Management officer Rian van Schalkwyk.

"The magnitude of that quake and tsunami in Japan is the sort of thing we can expect here. The moment there is a big local quake that is so strong that you can't stand upright, you need to get to higher ground or up in a building as quickly as possible. There is no time to hop in a car to drive away – just go up as quickly as possible.

"In Japan the quake was 200 kilometres offshore, but for us it could be 15km to 20km ..."

A tsunami caused by a quake that close "could be 15 metres high and it will come into the harbour and destroy everything in its path", he said.

The biggest threats were faults through Cook Strait and the Wairarapa coast and the possibility of huge landslides in the Cook Strait trench.

Mr van Schalkwyk said the tsunami triggered by the 8.2 magnitude quake on the Wairarapa Fault in 1855 was up to five metres high when it swept over Lyall Bay and Kilbirnie into Evans Bay.

A 10-metre wave struck Palliser Bay on the south Wairarapa coast. The tsunami also flooded Porirua Harbour, and hit Titahi Bay and the Kapiti Coast.

Mr van Schalkwyk said Greater Wellington regional council had drawn up maps showing evacuation zones for the most vulnerable areas. In the red, orange and yellow zones people need to be prepared to evacuate if there is a tsunami. The red zone is mainly for beach areas that could be hit by a one-metre tsunami generated thousands of kilometres away and during which people are advised to stay off the beaches.

The orange zone is based on a tsunami similar to that which happened in 1855, and the yellow zone is based on how far the devastation might extend if a 10-metre wave struck.

A tsunami of that size would threaten Wellington's commercial heart – the waterfront, the central business district and all the flat land as far south as the Basin Reserve, the suburbs of Island Bay, Lyall Bay, Kilbirnie, Miramar, Seatoun, Eastbourne, much of Lower Hutt, Titahi Bay, Porirua, Plimmerton, Paekakariki, Paraparaumu, Waikanae and Otaki.

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

This thread will involve anything Australian, New Zealand, pacific island and New Guinea and the Idonesian region. I will try to keep you all uptodate with earthquakes,Volcanoes, extreme weather and other stuff you might find interesting.I would really enjoy the input of others from Aus and around the world. We are all in this together.

THIS IS US.:107:

Quoting: AwakeInTassie

You may as well add me onto the list too :)

Mike, VK3VMS <-Ham radio callsign :)

Somewhere Down Under...

"You guys are so unhip, it's a wonder that your bums don't fall off" - from "The Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy" by Douglas Adams (R.I.P.)

"To make an assumption is the mother of all f%^(ups"

“An UFO is classified as unidentified, but the U.S. Government is classified as identified but remains unknown”

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

This thread will involve anything Australian, New Zealand, pacific island and New Guinea and the Idonesian region. I will try to keep you all uptodate with earthquakes,Volcanoes, extreme weather and other stuff you might find interesting.I would really enjoy the input of others from Aus and around the world. We are all in this together.

THIS IS US.:107:

Quoting: AwakeInTassie

You may as well add me onto the list too :)

Mike, VK3VMS <-Ham radio callsign :)

Quoting: VK3VMS

That is such a good idea Mike. Hope you get some more with radio's. Might be the only way to keep in touch soon.

Re: Australia and New Zealand >>>>>>Our Journey through 2012 and beyond.....................

You should SHUT UP AND GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE! IT IS A TIME BOMB READY TO BLOW, ANY MINUTE. DORMANT GIANT VOLCANOS, THE PLATE IS MELTING IN THOSE PLACES, YOU'LL BE FRIED. OH FIERY LORDY HEAR MY PLEA, OH ONE THAT BURNS IN MIGTHY TENTACLES, AND RED BRIMSTONE WASHES THY BODY!